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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26784778">No Matter What</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladybonehollows/pseuds/ladybonehollows'>ladybonehollows</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Green Creek Series - T.J. Klune</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate POV, Book 2: Ravensong, Gen, M/M, Protectiveness, pack bonds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:42:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,612</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26784778</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladybonehollows/pseuds/ladybonehollows</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>There was no such thing as restraint. Not when he could feel Gordo bracing himself, drawing on the strength of the pack against whatever he was preparing to face.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>  <i>Gordo might not want him there, might not want him at all, might never want him again, but Mark would never stop fighting to keep him safe. No matter what. </i></p><p> </p><p>Mark's POV of the scene in Ravensong when Gordo goes after Pappas alone.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mark Bennett &amp; Elizabeth Bennett, Mark Bennett &amp; Ox Matheson, Mark Bennett/Gordo Livingstone</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Green Creek Bingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>No Matter What</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kh530/gifts">Kh530</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is for Sam, who bullied me into writing this when I told them I was having Mark Bennett thoughts.</p><p>*most of the dialogue through the pack bonds comes directly from Ravensong</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Wide awake, Mark stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom and willed himself to relax.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The smell of smoke made it impossible, lingering on his skin despite the long shower he'd taken once he'd gotten home from burning the Omega's body. The others would be able to smell it for just as long as he could, but none of them were haunted by the memories of burning their loved ones in the same way he was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That wasn't true. Elizabeth would understand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Did she lay awake now, too?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Trying to calm his mind, he closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the heartbeats through the house, letting them ground him. Yes, he'd lost his first pack, and then his second. But they were here, they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and the ghosts that continued to haunt him couldn't touch them. The fear in his heart from the memory of his brother's body slowly becoming ash couldn't touch them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone he cared about was in this house, and they were safe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Almost everyone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A voice from the other end of the house had him opening his eyes again — Ox, quiet and sleepy, until it was neither of those things. A feeling of alertness flickered along the pack bond, before it was quickly muffled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It could be nothing, Mark told himself as he waited. After living in each others' heads for so many years, able to hear a pin drop on the other side of the house, they'd learned to pretend a semblance of privacy. He'd be ready if Ox needed him, but if it was a private matter, he didn't need Ox to feel like he was intruding.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not that it stopped any of the others, but still.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two sets of footsteps in the hallway. Joe's quiet voice at the next door over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark was at his bedroom door, pulling a sweater over his head, a moment before Ox. His Alpha dropped his hand with a grim smile. "I thought I had better control over my emotions than to wake you up with them."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I was already awake," Mark said, and didn't elaborate. Ox didn't need to be reminded how his fears lingered. Right now, it was unimportant. "What's wrong?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't know yet. Gordo's looking into it. He found evidence of wolves at the hotel."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The skin around Ox's eyes was tight. He was more worried than he let on. Mark frowned at him, suddenly unsure he wasn't sleeping after all. He knew that Ox's concern was broader, and his probably should have been too, but his mind squared in on one particular thing he'd said. "What's Gordo doing out there?" he said sharply.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t miss the understanding in Ox's eyes. He'd gotten used to it over the years. They all thought that they were far more subtle than they actually were.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't care — he'd never pretended to be anything other than who he was. "We're going to meet him," Ox said, tilting his head toward the staircase at the end of the hall. "Joe's waking the others. I'll explain it all downstairs."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was Pappas, he told them when they'd gathered in the kitchen. A strange phone call, and now a trashed hotel room. Blood on the walls, pawprints in the snow. "Mark, Carter, I want you to come with Joe and I to look into it," Ox said, with a firm look at both of us firmly before turning to the others. "The rest of you will stay here and wait for more information. It might be nothing."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He seemed sure, but there was a tension in him that he was obviously trying to hide. Mark wasn't sure if the others saw it, but he knew his Alpha well. He understood it all too well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yes, it might be nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After what had happened with Osmond, they couldn't take the chance that it was nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark caught a whiff of smoke in the air, and his heart couldn't believe that it was nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Why did you go out there without calling us first Gordo?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He barely needed to try, to see the disdain on Gordo's face if he was here to face the question. He could imagine the scorn in his voice. </span>
  <em>
    <span>What the fuck makes you think I need your help?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Ox and Joe and Carter filed out the front door, but Elizabeth caught Mark's forearm before he could follow. There was concern in her eyes, and he could feel some of it directed at him. "He'll be okay," she said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't bother to pretend that he wasn't worried. She'd always seen too much. "He needs to stop throwing himself in the firing line," he said, the words coming out as a low growl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You should tell him that."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, because he'll listen to me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She squeezed his arm. "He'll be okay," she said again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If only it were that easy. Sighing, Mark pulled out of her grip. He stepped out onto the porch, pausing only to shed his clothes on the porch before he shifted and ran after his nephews.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had barely reached the treeline when something changed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The golden threads that linked him to the pack had always felt slightly different for each person. He could feel the burning suns that were his Alphas. The threads of the humans were more muted. Elizabeth, Carter and Kelly, a warm familiarity that had been part of him now for decades.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gordo had always felt different. Because he was a witch. Because, even now, even after all these years, he was his tether. Because it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Gordo</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And right now, Gordo was </span>
  <em>
    <span>worried. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He was </span>
  <em>
    <span>anxious</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark could feel the blood pounding in his veins as he started to run.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Toward</span>
  </em>
  <span> the danger.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No. Gordo, no</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was no such thing as restraint. Not when he could feel Gordo bracing himself, drawing on the strength of the pack against whatever he was preparing to face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gordo might not want him there, might not want him at all, might never want him again, but Mark would never stop fighting to keep him safe. No matter what.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He barely felt the cold of the snow beneath his paws, the bite of wind in his eyes, because he was running, he was running, </span>
  <em>
    <span>gordo gordo I'm coming wait for me I'm coming</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew the others were calling out to Gordo too, but he couldn't hear them. He caught up to them, the four of them running as one, but he wouldn't wait, couldn't wait, he needed to get there he needed to he needed —</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>i'm fine calm fine safe stop stop stop</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>It was echoed by the black wolf running beside him. It was difficult, but he forced himself to hear it, forced his panic to subside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But it was only a moment before Gordo's hesitation made it flare again. The details weren't definite but he could feel the gist of it, could feel the weight of </span>
  <em>
    <span>wait or go wait or go wait or go</span>
  </em>
  <span> and he knew what he was going to do, knew it and hated him for it, hated him for throwing himself into danger again when they were so close, Gordo </span>
  <em>
    <span>wait wait just wait please wait don’t go</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Mark ran, he ran, it was all he could do, he ran and left the others behind because </span>
  <em>
    <span>gordo gordo GORDO</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn't close enough when Gordo's thread started to thrum with danger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could hear the others calling to Gordo, telling him to wait, and his song joined with theirs in a desperate attempt to make Gordo hear him. He felt the adrenalin running under Gordo's skin and pushed himself harder, faster.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A moment of </span>
  <em>
    <span>fear</span>
  </em>
  <span> burst through the bond between them, and Mark couldn't  think for the panic that filled him.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>no gordo no run run run</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>But he wouldn't, he wouldn't, he never did, and Mark couldn't move fast enough, couldn't get there in time, </span>
  <em>
    <span>GORDO RUN PLEASE RUN I’M COMING RUN RUN RUN</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>And it didn't matter that Gordo was his tether, it didn't matter that losing him would tear Mark apart. He'd tear himself apart </span>
  <em>
    <span>willingly</span>
  </em>
  <span> if it meant that Gordo would stop, would run, would wait for them, would be safe, oh god let him be safe </span>
  <em>
    <span>please let him be safe</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was vaguely aware of the others sending their strength to Gordo, knew that he should do the same, but he couldn't focus on anything other than getting to him before he got hurt. He had to make sure he was safe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had to protect Gordo from whoever thought they could put their claws </span>
  <em>
    <span>in his mate</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had to get there had to be faster had to help him </span>
  <em>
    <span>gordo gordo gordo</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The others were lost in the forest somewhere behind him when he caught sight of the headlights on the road. He could smell blood, he could smell the ozone of Gordo's magic, he could smell dirt and leaves and rain. And Gordo was there, he was there and he was okay, he was okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Pappas was there too, and he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> okay, his claws were out and Mark could feel how close he was to losing control.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't hesitate. Snarling, he jumped without slowing his pace, knocking Pappas off his feet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Teeth sank into his leg, but it didn't matter. It spurned his anger, but he was already </span>
  <em>
    <span>furious</span>
  </em>
  <span>, his fear having twisted into rage the moment he put his body between Gordo and danger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He'd take whatever Pappas wanted to throw at him, whatever anyone wanted to throw at him, as long as it kept Gordo safe.</span>
</p>
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